92 2005 Ridge Lytton Springs 11/24/07 ($18 - half bottle)
77% Zin, 17% Petit Sirah, 6% Carignane 14.4% alc
Color: Deep garnet. (3.0) Bouquet: Briar and perfumy Zinberry and cassis fruit. Very aromatic with the acidity being a bit fierce at present. (3.5) Body: Light heavyweight with excellent fruit and acidity. (3.5) Flavor: Parallels bouquet with delicious blackberry, boysenberry and briar, but a little more restrained. (3.0) Finish: Parallels flavor with chalky acidity and black licorice lingering. (3.0)
Overall: This is delicious with the chalky acidity driving the Zinberry fruit. I can say without hesitation that it's the best LS since the 2001 vintage. I don't expect this to be a particularly long-lived LS (at its best in the next 3-6 years?), but it is impressive, nonetheless. The structure here is driven more by acidity than tannin, which is not typical for LS, but I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing. This and the Geyserville from this vintage make a nice pair and it will be interesting to see which ultimately drinks better. (16.0)Note: Had this again about 6 months later and found that it closed up with air, causing its herbal side to stick out (score dropping to 89+). This might not concern me so much if the structure was bigger and more fierce, but as is, I'm worried as to whether the impressive snapshot above will be seen again. Of course, Lytton Springs is well-known to be ageworthy, so I'll be optimistic and hope I'm wrong.